Johns and Wadmalaw Islands
Deep-water estates, live-oak canopies and acreage, twenty to forty minutes from Broad Street.
Where a Charleston buyer goes for land and a dock.
Johns Island and Wadmalaw Island are the big sea islands southwest of the peninsula, reached by Maybank Highway and the live-oak tunnel of Bohicket Road. Johns Island has grown quickly and carries newer communities, including the agrarian Kiawah River development, along with the deep-water estates on the Stono, Bohicket Creek and Burden Creek. Wadmalaw, across a single bridge, is still rural: farms, the tea plantation, the village of Rockville at the end of the road, and river frontage measured in the hundreds of feet.
The luxury market here is estate by estate rather than street by street. Johns Island's 2025 median was $698,250 across 608 sales, a figure that says nothing about the top, where a home on Burden Creek drew three offers in five days and closed at $4,000,000 in June 2025. Wadmalaw's record sale stood at $5,900,000 (2021) when a 13-acre Bohicket River estate with more than 1,000 feet of frontage came to market in May 2025 at $10,600,000.
Buyers come for privacy, deep water and the ability to build what the peninsula's review board would never allow. Sellers need a marketing plan that explains the land, because a $6,000,000 estate on Wadmalaw has no comparable set and sells on the strength of its story.
What the address actually buys.
- 01
Deep water
The Stono, the Bohicket, the Wadmalaw and the creeks that feed them: dock-able frontage with direct runs to the harbor and the ocean.
- 02
Acreage and privacy
Parcels of five, ten and fifty acres within a half hour of the peninsula, with the live oaks and the marsh views that define the Lowcountry.
- 03
Kiawah and Seabrook next door
Freshfields Village, Bohicket Marina and the island clubs are a few minutes from the Johns Island estates along Bohicket Road.
- 04
Rockville and the Wadmalaw pace
A village at the end of the island with a yacht club, a summer regatta and a sense that the twentieth century arrived late.
The islands, by water.
Bohicket Road and Bohicket Creek
The live-oak corridor from Maybank Highway to Kiawah and Seabrook, with creek-front estates on the Bohicket and quick access to the islands' clubs.
The Stono and Burden Creek
Johns Island's deep water facing James Island; 2885 Plowground Road on Burden Creek closed at $4,000,000 in June 2025 after three offers in five days.
The Kiawah River
The Johns Island side of the river, including the newer Kiawah River community and the estates upstream of the Vanderhorst tract.
Wadmalaw: the Bohicket, the Wadmalaw River and Rockville
Farms and river estates with long frontage. 2970 Roseville Road, 13 acres with more than 1,000 feet on the Bohicket, was listed in May 2025 at $10,600,000 against an island record of $5,900,000.
Johns and Wadmalaw Islands in facts.
Only what we could verify. Where a number is missing, we would rather leave it out than guess.
| Type | Sea islands in unincorporated Charleston County (parts of Johns Island are within the City of Charleston); rural and estate zoning on Wadmalaw |
|---|---|
| Johns Island, 2025 | Median $698,250 (+7.4%), 608 closed sales (CTAR) |
| Wadmalaw record sale | $5,900,000 (2021) |
| Highest Wadmalaw listing, 2025 | 2970 Roseville Road, 13 acres on the Bohicket River, $10,600,000 |
| Notable Johns Island sale | 2885 Plowground Road, Burden Creek, $4,000,000, June 5, 2025, three offers in five days |
| Nearby James Island benchmark | 111 Riverland Drive on the Stono, $7,625,000, May 2026, a neighborhood record |
Sources
| Johns Island 2025 median and sales | The Post and Courier, Jan 16, 2026, 2025 CTAR year-end by submarket www.postandcourier.com/business/real_estate/charleston-sc-homes-price-sale-2026/ |
| Wadmalaw record and 2970 Roseville Road listing | The Post and Courier, May 3, 2025 www.postandcourier.com/business/real_estate/charleston-wadmalaw-island-home-sell |
| 2885 Plowground Road sale | The Post and Courier, Jun 27, 2025 www.postandcourier.com/business/real_estate/home-sales-folly-beach-lake-murray-s |
| 111 Riverland Drive sale | William Means Real Estate, first-half 2026 top sales recap charlestonrealestate.com/blog/our-top-ten-sales-a-first-half-2026-recap |
Johns and Wadmalaw Islands, answered.
What does a deep-water estate on Johns or Wadmalaw cost?
The islands' medians ($698,250 on Johns Island in 2025) describe the whole market, not the waterfront. Estate sales on the Stono, the Bohicket and Burden Creek have closed between $4,000,000 and $5,900,000 in recent years, and a 13-acre Bohicket River estate on Wadmalaw was listed at $10,600,000 in 2025. Each property is priced on its own land, frontage and improvements.
Can I build what I want on Wadmalaw?
Wadmalaw is governed by Charleston County rather than the city's Board of Architectural Review, with rural and estate zoning that allows far more latitude than the peninsula. Dock permits, setbacks from the critical line and county zoning still apply, and DHG confirms each with the county and OCRM before a client commits to a plan.
How is Damian Hall Group different from other sea-island agents?
An estate with no comparable set sells on its story, and telling that story on film is what DHG Studios was built for. The group has sold record-setting farms and estates elsewhere in the Carolinas, and brings the Christie's network and a national relocation audience to a Johns Island or Wadmalaw property whose buyer is almost never local.
Other submarkets we work.
South of Broad
The oldest addresses in the city, from Broad Street to the Battery, where the regional record was set.
The Historic Peninsula
Everything north of Broad that still has a cobblestone, a courtyard or a harbor view.
Sullivan's Island
The highest median in the region, by design: a town that capped house size, banned short-term rentals and kept the island small.
Find your home in Johns and Wadmalaw Islands.
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